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THE
PRACTICAL DISTILLER:
OR
AN INTRODUCTION TO MAKING
WHISKEY, GIN, BRANDY, SPIRITS, &c. &c.
OF BETTER QUALITY, AND IN LARGER QUANTITIES,
THAN PRODUCED BY THE PRESENT
MODE OF DISTILLING, FROM THE PRODUCE
OF THE UNITED STATES:
SUCH AS
RYE, CORN, BUCK-WHEAT, APPLES,
PEACHES, POTATOES, PUMPIONS
AND TURNIPS.
WITH DIRECTIONS
HOW TO CONDUCT AND IMPROVE THE PRACTICAL
PART OF DISTILLING IN ALL ITS BRANCHES.
TOGETHER WITH DIRECTIONS
FOR PURIFYING, CLEARING AND COLOURING WHISKEY,
MAKING SPIRITS SIMILAR TO FRENCH
BRANDY, &c. FROM THE SPIRITS OF RYE,
CORN, APPLES, POTATOES, &c. &c.
AND SUNDRY EXTRACTS OF APPROVED RECEIPTS
FOR MAKING CIDER, DOMESTIC WINES, AND BEER.
BY SAMUEL McHARRY,
OF LANCASTER COUNTY, PENN.
PUBLISHED AT HARRISBURGH, (PENN.)
BY JOHN WYETH.
----1809.----
DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA,
TO WIT:
SEAL.
Be it remembered, that on
the twenty fourth day of November,
in the thirty-third year of the Independence
of the United States of
America, A. D. 1808, SAMUEL McHARRY,
of the said district, hath deposited in this
Office, the title of a Book, the right whereof he
claims as author, in the words following, to wit:
_The Practical Distiller: or an introduction to making Whiskey, Gin, Brandy, Spirits, &c. &c. of better quality, and in larger quantities, than produced by the present mode of distilling, from the produce of the United States: such as Rye, Corn, Buckwheat, Apples, Peaches, Potatoes, Pumpions and Turnips. With directions how to conduct and improve the practical part of distilling in all its branches. Together with directions for purifying, clearing and colouring Whiskey, making Spirits similar to French Brandy, &c. from the Spirits of Rye, Corn, Apples, Potatoes &c. &c. and sundry extracts of approved receipts for making Cider, domestic Wines, and Beer. By SAMUEL McHARRY, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania._
In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned." And also to the act, entitled, "An act supplementary to an act, entitled, 'An act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the time therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."
D. CALDWELL,
Clerk of the district of Pennsylvania.
CONTENTS:
Page SECTION I Observations on Yeast. 25 Receipt for making stock Yeast. 27 Vessel most proper for preserving do. 30 To ascertain the quality of do. 31 To renew do. 32 Observations on the mode in which distillers generally work do. 33 How stock Yeast may be kept good for years. 34 To make best Yeast for daily use. 36 SECTION II Observations on the best wood for hogsheads. 39 To sweeten by scalding ditto. 41 Ditto, burning do. 42 SECTION III To mash rye in the common mode. 44 Best method of distilling rye. 45 To mash one-third rye with two-thirds corn. 47 Do. an equal quantity of rye and corn. 49 Do. two-thirds rye and one-third corn. 51 Do. corn. 54 To make four gallons to the bushel. 55 To know when grain is sufficiently scalded. 58 Directions for cooling off. 59 To ascertain when rye works well. 61 To prevent hogsheads from working over. 62 SECTION IV Observations on the quality of rye. 63 Mode of chopping rye. 64 Do. or grinding indian corn. 65 Do. malt. 66 To choose malt. 67 To build a malt-kiln. 67 To make malt for stilling. 69 Of hops. 69 SECTION V How to order and fill the singling still. 69 Mode of managing the doubling still. 71 On the advantages of making good whiskey. 73 Distilling buckwheat. 77 Distilling potatoes, with observations. 78 Receipt to prepare potatoes for distilling. 82 Distilling pumpions. 83 Do. turnips. 83 Do. apples. 84 To order do. in the hogsheads. 85 To work do. fast or slow. 86 To know when apples are ready for distilling. 87 To fill and order the singling still for apples. 88 To double apple-brandy. 90 To prepare peaches. 91 To double and single do. 92 SECTION VI Best mode of setting stills. 93 To prevent the planter from cracking. 98 Method of boiling more than one still by a single fire. 99 To set a doubling still. 100 To prevent the singling still from rusting. 101 SECTION VII How to clarify whiskey. 102 To make a brandy, from rye, spirits or whiskey, to resemble French Brandy. 103 To make a spirit from ditto, to resemble Jamaica spirits. 104 Do. Holland gin. 105 Do. country gin, and clarifying same. 107 On fining liquors. 110 On coloring liquors. 111 To correct the taste of singed whiskey. 112 To give an aged flavor. 113 SECTION VIII Observations on weather. 115 Do. water. 117 Precautions against fire. 119 SECTION IX Duty of the owner of a distillery. 120 Do. of a hired distiller. 123 SECTION X The profits arising from a common distillery. 125 Do. from a patent distillery. 127 Of hogs. 129 Diseases of hogs. 133 Feeding cattle and milk cows. 134 SECTION XI Observations on erecting distilleries. 135 SECTION XII On Wines. 139 Receipt for making ditto, from the autumn blue grape. 140 Ditto, from currants. 142 Do. for making cider, British mode. 143 Do. do. American mode. 145 Do. for an excellent American wine. 150 Do. do. honey wine. 153 To make elderberry wine. 156 Do. do. cordial. 157 SECTION XIII Of brewing beer. 160 Of the brewing vessels. 160 Of cleaning and sweetening casks and brewing vessels. 161 Of mashing or raking liquors. 163 Of working the liquor. 167 Of fining malt liquors. 170 Season for brewing. 172 To make elderberry beer or ebulum. 173 To make improved purl. 174 To brew strong beer. 175 To make china ale. 176 To make any new liquor drink as stale. 177 To recover sour ale. 177 To recover liquor that is turned bad. 178 Directions for bottling. 178 To make ale or beer of cooked malt. 179 To make treacle (or molasses) beer. 181
PREFACE.
When I first entered on the business of Distilling, I was totally unacquainted with it. I was even so ignorant of the process, as not to know that fermentation was necessary, in producing spirits from grain. I had no idea that fire being put under a still, which, when hot enough, would raise a vapour; or that vapour when raised, could be condensed by a worm or tube passing through water into a liquid state. In short, my impressions were, that chop-rye mixed with water in a hogshead, and let stand for two or three days; and then put into a still, and fire being put under her, would produce the spirit by boiling up into the worm, and to pass through the water in order to cool it, and render it palatable for immediate use--and was certain the whole art and mystery could be learned in two or three weeks, or months at farthest, as I had frequently met with persons who professed a knowledge of the business, which they had acquired in two or three months, and tho' those men were esteemed distillers, and in possession of all the necessary art, in this very abstruse science; I soon found them to be ignorant blockheads, without natural genius, and often, without principle.
Thus benighted, and with only the above light and knowledge, I entered into the dark, mysterious and abstruse science of distilling, a business professed to be perfectly understood by many, but in fact not sufficiently understood by any. For it presents a field for the learned, and man of science, for contemplation--that by a judicious and systematic appropriation and exercise of certain elements, valuable and salutary spirits and beverages may be produced in great perfection, and at a small expense, and little inconvenience, on almost every farm in our country.
The professed chymist, and profound theorist may smile at my ideas, but should any one of them ever venture to soil a finger in the practical part of distilling, I venture to say, he would find more difficulty in producing good yeast, than in the process of creating oxygen or hydrogen gas. Scientific men generally look down on us, and that is principally owing to the circumstance of so many knaves, blockheads and conceited characters being engaged in the business.--If then, the subject could be improved, I fancy our country would yield all the necessary liquors, and in a state of perfection, to gratify the opulent, and please the epicure.
I had no difficulty in finding out a reputed great distiller, whose directions I followed in procuring every necessary ingredient and material for distilling, &c. He was industrious and attentive, and produced tolerable yield, but I soon found the quantity of the runs to vary, and the yield scarcely two days alike. I enquired into the cause, of him, but his answers were, he could not tell; I also enquired of other distillers, and could procure no more satisfactory answer--some attributed it to the water, others to witchcraft, &c. &c.
I found them all ignorant--I was equally so, and wandered in the dark; but having commenced the business, I determined to have light on the subject; I thought there must be books containing instructions, but to my surprise, after a diligent search of all the book-stores and catalogues in Pennsylvania, I found there was no American work extant, treating on this science--and those of foreign production, so at variance with our habits, customs, and mode of economy, that I was compelled to abandon all hope of scientific or systematic aid, and move on under the instructions of those distillers of our neighborhood, who were little better informed than myself, but who cheerfully informed me of their experiments, and the results, and freely communicated their opinions and obligingly gave me their receipts. In the course of my progress, I purchased many receipts, and hesitated not to procure information of all who appeared to possess it, and sometimes at a heavy expense, and duly noted down all such discoveries and communications--made my experiments from time to time, and in various seasons, carefully noting down the results. Having made the business my constant and only study, carefully attending to the important branch of making yeast, and studying the cause and progress of fermentation, proceeding with numerous experiments, and always studying to discover the cause of every failure, or change, or difference in the yield. I could, after four years attention, tell the cause of such change, whether in the water, yeast, fermentation, quality of the grain, chopping the grain, or in mashing, and carefully corrected it immediately. By a thus close and indefatigable attention, I brought it to a system, in my mind, and to a degree of perfection, that I am convinced nothing but a long series of practice could have effected.
From my record of most improved experiments, I cheerfully gave receipts to those who applied, and after their adoption obtaining some celebrity, I found applications so numerous, as to be troublesome, and to be impossible for me to furnish the demands gratis, of consequence, I was compelled to furnish to some, and refuse others; a conduct so pregnant with partiality, and a degree of illiberality naturally gave rise to murmurs.
My friends strongly recommended a publication of them, the plan requiring the exercise of talents, order and method, with which I presumed myself not sufficiently versed, I for sometime obstinately refused, but at length and after reiterated solicitation, I consented to enter on the talk, under a flattering hope of affording useful information to those of my country engaged in the distillation of spirits from the growth of our native soil, which together with the following reasons, I offer as the only apology.
1st. I observed many distillers making fortunes, whilst others exercising an equal share of industry, and of equal merit were sinking money, owing to a want of knowledge in the business.
2d. In taverns I often observed foreign liquors drank in preference to those of domestic manufacture, though really of bad quality, possessing pernicious properties acquired from ingredients used by those in our commercial towns, who brew and compose brandies, spirits, and wines, often from materials most injurious to health, and this owing to so much bad liquor being made in our country, from which the reputation of domestic spirit has sunk. Whilst, in fact, we can make domestic spirits of various materials, which with a little management and age, will be superior to any of foreign produce.
3d. By making gin, &c. as good if not better, we might in a few years, meet those foreign merchants in their own markets, and undersell them; which we certainly could do, by making our liquors good, and giving them the same age. The transportation would of consequence improve them in an equal degree, for the only advantage their liquors of the same age have over our good liquors, is the mildness acquired by the friction in the warm hold of the ship in crossing the ocean.
And moreover as liquors will be drank by people of all standings in society, I flattered myself I could improve our liquors, render them more wholesome to those whose unhappy habits compel a too free use of ardent spirits, and whose constitutions may have been doubly injured from the pernicious qualities of such as they were compelled to use. For there are in all societies and of both sexes, who will drink and use those beverages to excess, even when there exists a moral certainty, that they will sustain injury from such indulgence, and as an evidence of my hypothesis, I offer the free use of coffee, tea, &c. so universally introduced at the tables of people of every grade.
The wise Disposer of worlds, very happily for mankind, permits the exhibition of genius, mind and talents, from the peasant and lower order, as well as from the monarch, the lord, and the opulent. To Europe they of course are not confined--Genius has already figured in our hemisphere--The arts and sciences are becoming familiar, they rise spontaneously from our native soil, and bid fair to vie with, if not out-shine accomplished Europe. In possession, then, of all the necessary materials, ingredients and requisites, I would ask why we cannot afford ardent spirits and wines equal to those imported; and thus raise our character to a standing with other countries, and retain those millions of dollars at home, which are yearly shipped abroad for those foreign liquors, so common, so universally in use, and much of which so adulterated, as to be followed, when freely used, with unhappy consequences. Would men of capital and science, turn their attention to distillations, from the produce of our own country, preserve the liquor until age and management would render it equal, if not superior to any imported; is it not probable that it would become an article of export, and most sensibly benefit our country at large.
Considerations such as those have combined to determine a publication of my work; fully apprised of the scoffs of pedants, kicks, bites and bruises of critics--but I hope they will find latitude for the exercise of a share of compassion, when I inform them candidly, that a mill and distillery, or still house, were substituted for, and the only college and academy in which I ever studied, and those studies were broken, and during the exercise of my business, as a miller and distiller.
That it contains errors in the diction and perspicuity, I will readily confess--but that it is in substance true, and contains much useful information, I must declare as an indisputable fact. And though the road I travelled was a new one, without compass, chart, or even star to steer by, not even a book to assist me in thinking, or cheer me in my gloomy passage--seeking from those springs of nature, and inherent endowments for consolatory aid--pressing on a frequently exhausted mind, for resources and funds, to accomplish the objects of my pursuits--not denying but that I met many of my fellow-beings, who cheerfully aided me with all the information in their power, and to whom I now present my thanks--I must acknowledge, I think my labors and exertions will prove useful to those of less experience than mine, in which event I shall feel a more ample remuneration for my exertions, than the price asked for one of those volumes.
Could I have witnessed the publication of a similar work by a man of science and education, mine should never have appeared. But it would seem the learned and scientific have never considered a work of the kind as meriting their attention; a circumstance deeply to be regretted, as a finer colouring to a work of the same properties and value often procures celebrity, demand and currency. My object is to be useful, my style plain, and only laboured to be rendered easy to be understood, and convey the necessary instruction to those who may honor this work with a perusal, or resort to it for information, and that it may be useful to my countrymen, is the sincere wish of
THE AUTHOR.
INTRODUCTION.
It is not more than twenty years since whiskey was first offered for sale in the seaport towns in large quantities; and then, owing to its badness, at a very low price. Since that period it has been gaining ground yearly, and at this time, it is the second great article of commerce, in the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland.
In the interior of these states, it has nearly excluded the use of foreign distilled spirits, and I fancy might be made so perfectly pure and nice, as to ultimately supersede the use of any other throughout the United States.
To assist in effecting this, the greatest attention should be paid to cleanliness, which in a distillery is absolutely necessary, the want of which admits of no excuse, where water is had without price.
If a distiller does not by a most industrious well-timed care and attention, preserve every utensil perfectly sweet and clean, he may expect, notwithstanding he has well attended to the other branches, but indifferent whiskey and not much of it.
If, for instance, every article, or only one article in the composition of yeast be sour or dirty, that one article will most assuredly injure the whole; which being put into a hogshead of mashed grain, soon imparts its acidity or filth to the whole mass, and of course will reduce the quantity and quality of the spirit yielded from that hogshead. Cleanliness in every matter and thing, in and about a distillery becomes an indispensable requisite, without a strict observance of which the undertaker will find the establishment unproductive and injurious to his interest. Purity cannot exist without cleanliness. Cleanliness in the human system will destroy an obstinate itch, of consequence, it is the active handmaid of health and comfort, and without which, decency does not exist.
Care is another important and necessary consideration, and a basis necessary, on which to erect a distillery, in order to ensure it productive of wealth and reputation. Care and industry will ensure cleanliness; an eye of care must be extended to every thing, that nothing be lost, that every thing be in its proper place and order, that every thing be done in due time; the business must be well timed, and time well economised, as it ranks in this, as in every other business very high. Let a judicious attention be paid to care, cleanliness, and industry, and when united with a competent knowledge of the different branches of the distilling business, the character of a compleat practical distiller is perfect.
With such a distiller, and a complete still-house, furnished with every necessary utensil for carrying on the business--it cannot fail to prove a very productive establishment, and present to the world, from the materials of our own farms, a spirit as wholesome, and well flavored and as healthy as any spirit whatever--the produce or yield of any country, provided it be permitted to acquire the same age.
What a grand and great idea strikes the thinking scientific mind, on entering a complete and clean distillery, with an intelligent cleanly distiller, performing his duty in it.
To see the four elements, each combining to produce (with the assistance of man) an article of commerce and luxury, and at the same time, a necessary beverage to man. The earth producing the grain, hops and utensils, which a combination of fire and water reduces into a liquid by fermentation, and when placed in the still to see air engaging fire to assist her in reducing the liquid that fire and water had produced, into a vapour, or air, and afterwards to see fire abandoning air, and assisting water to reduce it into a liquid by means of the condensing tubes, and then to consider the number of hands employed in keeping the distillery a going, will present one other patriotic idea. The farmer with all his domestics and people, engaged in the cultivation of the rye, corn, &c. The wood choppers--the haling--the coopers engaged in making casks--the hands engaged in feeding cattle and the pork--haling, barrelling and selling the whiskey, spirits, pork, &c. The produce of the distillery, presenting subject for commerce, and employ for the merchant, mechanic and mariner--and all from our own farms.
After seeing the distillery afford employment for so many hands, bread to their families, and yielding the means of an extensive revenue and increase of commerce--with a flattering prospect of completely annihilating the use of foreign liquors in our country, and thereby saving the expenditure of millions of dollars; and ultimately rendering our liquors an article of export and source of wealth--I presume every mind will be struck with the propriety of encouraging a branch of business so promising in wealth and comfort.
The following receipts are intended to convey all the instruction necessary in the science of distilling, and producing from the growth of our own farms, the best spirits of every description, and such as I flatter myself will supersede the use of all imported liquors, and thereby fulfil the views and wishes of
THE AUTHOR.
PRACTICAL DISTILLER.
SECTION I.
Observations on Yeast.
That yeast is the main spring in distilling, is acknowledged by all distillers, tho' but few if them understand it, either in its nature or operation; tho' many pretend a knowledge of the grand subject of fermentation, and affect to understand the best mode of making stock yeast, and to know a secret mode unknown to all others--when it is my belief they know very little about it; but, by holding out the idea of adding some drug, not to be procured at every house, which has a hard name, and that is little known to people of common capacities: Such as Dragons blood, &c. frequently retailing their secret, as the best possible mode of making stock yeast, at ten, twenty, and in some instances one hundred dollars.
Confessing it a subject, abstruse, and a science little understood in Pennsylvania, and notwithstanding the numerous experiments I have made with care and close observation, yet from a consciousness of not understanding it, too well, I have in several instances purchased receipts, and made faithful experiments; but have never yet met the man of science, theory, or practice, whose mode of making stock yeast, yielded a better preparation for promoting fermentation, than the simple mode pursued by myself for some years, and which I have uniformly found to be the best and most productive.
In making yeast, all drugs and witchcraft are unnecessary--Cleanliness, in preserving the vessels perfectly sweet, good malt, and hops, and an industrious distiller, capable of observation, and attention to the following receipt, which will be assuredly found to contain the essence and spirit of the ways and art of making that composition, a knowledge of which I have acquired, by purchases--consultations with the most eminent brewers, bakers, and distillers in this commonwealth, and above all, from a long practice and experience, proving its utility and superior merits to my most perfect satisfaction; and which I with pleasure offer to my fellow-citizens, as meriting a preference--notwithstanding the proud and scientific chymist, and the flowery declarations or treatises of the profound theorist, may disapprove this simple mode, and offer those which they presume to be better, tho' they never soiled a finger in making a practical experiment, or perhaps witnessed a process of any description.
ARTICLE II.
Receipt for Stock Yeast.
For a stock yeast vessel of two gallons, the size best adapted for that purpose.
Take one gallon good barley malt, (be sure it be of good quality) put it into a clean, well scalded vessel, (which take care shall be perfectly sweet) pour thereon four gallons scalding water, (be careful your water be clean) stir the malt and water with a well scalded stick, until thoroughly mixed together, then cover the vessel close with a clean cloth, for half an hour; then uncover it and set it in some convenient place to settle, after three or four hours, or when you are sure the sediment of the malt is settled to the bottom, then pour off the top, or thin part that remains on the top, into a clean well scoured iron pot, (be careful not to disturb the thick sediment in the bottom, and that none of it goes into the pot); then add four ounces good hops, and cover the pot close with a clean scalded iron cover, and set it on a hot fire of coals to boil--boil it down one third, or rather more, then strain all that is in the pot through a thin hair sieve, (that is perfectly clean) into a clean well scalded earthen crock that is glazed--then stir into it, with a clean stirring stick, as much superfine flour as will make it about half thick, that is neither thick nor thin, but between the two, stirring it effectually until there be no lumps left in it. If lumps are left, you will readily perceive that the heart or inside of those lumps will not be scalded, and of course, when the yeast begins to work, those lumps will sour very soon, and of course sour the yeast--stir it then till those lumps are all broken, and mixed up, then cover it close for half an hour, to let the flour stirred therein, be properly scalded, after which uncover and stir it frequently until it is a little colder than milk warm, (to be ascertained by holding your finger therein for ten minutes, but beware your finger is clean) then add half a pint of genuine good yeast,[1] (be certain it is good, for you had better use none, than bad yeast) and stir it effectually, until you are sure the yeast is perfectly incorporated with the ingredients in the pot--after which cover it, and set it in a moderately cool place in summer, until you perceive it begin to work, or ferment--then be careful to stir it two or three times at intervals of half an hour--then set it past to work--in the winter, place it in a moderately warm part of the still-house--and in summer, choose a spring house, almost up to the brim of the crock in water--avoiding extremes of heat or cold, which are equally prejudicial to the spirit of fermentation--of consequence, it should be placed in a moderately warm situation in the winter, and moderately cool in the summer.
[Footnote 1: If none can be obtained that is good, the following is a receipt to make it, viz.
Procure three wooden vessels of different sizes and apertures, one capable of holding two quarts, the other three or four, and the third five or six; boil a quarter of a peck of malt for about eight or ten minutes in three pints of water; and when a quart is poured off from the grains, let it stand in a cool place till not quite cold, but retaining that degree of heat which the brewers usually find to be proper when they begin to work their liquor. Then remove the vessel into some warm situation near a fire, where the thermometer stands between 70 and 80 degrees (Fahrenheit,) and here let it remain till the fermentation begins, which will be plainly perceived within thirty hours; add then two quarts more of a like decoction of malt, when cool, as the first was; and mix the whole in the larger sized vessel, and stir it well in, which must be repeated in the usual way, as it rises in a common vat: then add a still greater quantity of the same decoction, to be worked in the largest vessel, which will produce yeast enough for a brewing of forty gallons.]
This yeast ought to be renewed every four or five days in the summer, and eight or ten days in the winter--but it is safer to renew it oftener, or at shorter intervals, than suffering it to stand longer. In twenty-four hours after it begins to work, it is fit for use.
Between a pint and half a pint of the foregoing stock yeast, is sufficient to raise the yeast for the daily use of three hogsheads.
ART. III.
The most proper vessel for preserving stock yeast is an earthen crock, that will hold three gallons at least, with a cover of the same, well glazed--as it will contract no acid from the fermentation, and is easily scalded and sweetened. There ought to be two of the same size, that when one is in use, the other may be sweetening--which is effected by exposing them to frost or fire.
ART. IV.
To know when Yeast is good or bad.
When you perceive your yeast working, observe if it works quick, sharp and strong, and increasing in bulk nearly double what it was before it began to work, with a sweet sharp taste, and smell, with the appearance of a honey comb, with pores, and always changing place, with a bright lively colour, then you may pronounce your yeast good; on the contrary, if it is dead, or flat and blue looking, with a sour taste, and smell, (if any at all,) then you may pronounce it bad, and unfit for use, and of course must be renewed.
ART. V.
How to renew Yeast when sour.
About two hours before you begin to make your beer, take one pint of the sour yeast, put it into a clean dish or vessel, and pour clean cold water over it--changing the water every fifteen minutes, until the acid be extracted, have it then in readiness to mix with the beer, which is to be prepared, in the following manner, viz. Take one pint malt, and scald it well in a clean vessel, with a gallon of boiling water, let it stand half an hour closely covered--then pour it into a pot with plenty of hops--then strain it into a well scalded earthen jug, when milk warm--add then a small quantity of the yeast, (sweetened as directed in the first part of this receipt,) with two or three table spoon fulls of molasses ... set it past for twenty four hours to ferment ... then pour off the top, or beer that is in the jug, leaving about a quart in the bottom ... then that which remains in the bottom will be yeast with which to start your stock yeast.
ART. VI.
The method of procuring and keeping stock yeast, by the generality of distillers, merits in the mind of the author of this work, most decided disapprobation. They generally procure yeast once a week, or month, from brewers, and if not convenient to be had in this way, they often use such as is used by country women, for baking bread, without paying any regard to the quality, or whether sour; with such, tho' generally bad, they proceed to make their daily yeast, and often continue the use of it, until the grain will no longer yield a gallon of whiskey to the bushel, and so often proceed in this miserable and indolent mode of procuring and renewing yeast, to the great prejudice of their own, and employer's interest ... attributing the small yield of liquor to the badness of the grain ... the manner in which it is chopped, or some other equally false cause. Then to the idle and careless habits of distillers, must be attributed any yield short of three gallons to the bushel of rye.... To ensure this quantity at least from the bushel, the author discovers the anxiety expressed, and the care recommended in the foregoing pages, on the subject of preserving and keeping good yeast, and recommends the following as the best mode of preparing.
ART. VII.
Stock Yeast good for years.
When the weather is moderately warm in autumn or the spring, take of your best stock yeast that has fermented about twenty four hours, and stir it thick with the coarsest middlings of wheat flour, add small quantity of whiskey, in which, previously dissolve a little salt, when you have stirred the middlings with a stick, rub it between your hands until it becomes pretty dry, then spread it out thin, on a board to dry in the sun ... rubbing once or twice in the day between your hands until it is perfectly dry, which will be in three or four good days--taking it in at night before the dew falls--when it is properly dried, put it up in a paper and keep it in a dry airy place for use.
Thus yeast will keep good, if free from moisture, for any length of time, and it is the only effectual mode of preserving stock yeast pure and sweet ... when put up conformably to the foregoing instructions, the distiller may always rely on having it good, and depend on a good turn out of his grain, provided he manages the other parts of his distilling equally well.
About two hours before you mean to use the dried yeast, the mode is to take two gills, place it in any convenient vessel, and pour thereon milk-warm water, stir and mix it well with the yeast, and in two or three hours good working yeast will be produced.
In the spring every distiller ought to make as much as would serve 'till fall, and every fall as much as will serve thro' the winter, reckoning on the use of one pint per week, three gills being sufficient to start as much stock yeast as will serve a common distillery one week.
ART. VIII.
To make the best Yeast for daily use.
For three hogsheads take two handfuls of hops, put them into an iron pot, and pour thereon three gallons boiling water out of your boiler, set the pot on the fire closely covered half an hour, to extract the strength from the hops, then strain it into your yeast vessel, thicken it with chopped rye, from which the bran has been sifted ... stir it with a clean stick until the lumps are all well broken and mixed ... cover it close with a cloth for half an hour, adding at the time of putting in the chopped rye, one pint of good malt when the rye is sufficiently scalded, uncover and stir it well until it is milk-warm, then add one pint good stock yeast, stirring until you are sure it is well mixed with the new yeast. If your stock yeast is good, this method will serve you ... observing always, that your water and vessels are clean, and the ingredients of a good quality; as soon as you have cooled off and emptied your yeast vessel, scald and scour, and expose it to the night air to purify. Tin makes the best yeast vessel for yeast made daily, in the above mode.
In the course of my long practice in distilling I fully discovered that a nice attention to yeast is absolutely necessary, and altho' I have in the foregoing pages said a great deal on the subject, yet from the importance justly to be attached to this ingredient in distilling, and to shew more fully the advantages and disadvantages arising from the use of good and bad yeast, I submit the following statement for the consideration of my readers.
Advantages in using good yeast for one month, at 5 bushels per day; 30 days at 5 bushels, is 150 bushels at 60 cents, costs $ 90 00
Contra
150 bushels yield 3 gallons per bushel, at
50 cents per gallon--450 gallons,
225 00
--------
Profit $ 135 00
Disadvantages sustained during the above period. 150 bushels at 60 cents, $ 90 00
Contra
150 bushes yielding 1-1/2 gallons to the
bushel--225 gallons at 50 cents, 112 50
-------
Profit $ 21 50
Thus the owner or distiller frequently sustains in the distillation of his produce, a loss, equal and in proportion to the foregoing--from the use of indifferent yeast, and often without knowing to what cause to attribute it. This statement will shew more forcibly, than any other mode--and is made very moderate on the side of indifferent yeast, for with bad sour yeast the yield will be oftener under one gallon to the bushel than above one and an half--whereas with good yeast the yield will rarely be so low as three gallons to the bushel. It is therefore, I endeavor so strongly to persuade the distiller to pay every possible attention to the foregoing instructions, and the constant use of good yeast only, to the total rejection of all which may be of doubtful quality.
SECTION II.
ARTICLE I.
Observations on Wood for Hogsheads.
The cheapest and easiest wrought wood is generally most used for making mashing tubs, or hogsheads, and very often for dispatch or from necessity, any wood that is most convenient is taken, as pine or chesnut; indeed I have seen poplar tubs in use for mashing, which is very wrong, as a distiller by not having his hogsheads of good wood, may lose perhaps the price of two sets of hogsheads in one season. For instance, a farmer is about to erect a distillery, and is convenient to a mountain, abounding in chesnut or pine, which from its softness and the ease with which it may be worked, its convenience for dispatch sake, is readily chosen for his mashing hogsheads.--To such selection of wood, I offer my most decided disapprobation, from my long experience, I know that any kind of soft wood will not do in warm weather. Soft porus wood made up into mashing tubs when full of beer and under fermentation, will contract, receive or soak in so much acid, as to penetrate nearly thro' the stave, and sour the vessel to such a degree, in warm weather, that no scalding will take it out--nor can it be completely sweetened until filled with cold water for two or three days, and then scalded; I therefore strongly recommend the use of, as most proper
White Oak.
Disapproving of black, tho' next in order to white oak staves for all the vessels about the distillery ... as being the most durable of close texture, easily sweetened ... and hard to be penetrated by acids of any kind, tho' sometimes the best white oak hogsheads may sour, but two or three scaldings will render them perfectly sweet ... if white oak cannot be had, black oak being of the next best in quality may be used ... and again I enter my protest against pine, chesnut, poplar, and every kind of soft porus wood.
If possible, or if at all convenient, have the vessels iron bound and painted, to prevent worms and the weather from injuring them, using one good wood hoop on the bottom to save the chine.
ART. II.
To sweeten Hogsheads by scalding.
When you turn your vessels out of doors (for it is esteemed slothful and a lazy mode to scald them in the still house,) you must wash them clean with your scrubbing brush, then put in sixteen or twenty gallons boiling water--cover it close for about twenty minutes, then scrub it out effectually with your scrubbing broom, then rinse your vessel well with a couple buckets clean cold water, and set them out to receive the air--this method will do in the winter, provided they are left out in the frost over night--but in summer, and especially during the months of July and August, this mode will not do--it is during those extreme warm months in our latitude, that the vessels are liable to contract putrid particles, which may be corrected by the following mode of making
Hogsheads perfectly sweet.
Scald them twice, as above directed, then light a brimstone match, flick it on the ground, turn your hogshead down over it, let it stand until the match quits burning, this operation is necessary once a week--a method I have found effectual.
ART. III.
To sweeten Hogsheads by burning.
When you have scalded your hogsheads well, put into each, a large handful of oat or rye straw, set it on fire, and stir it till it is in a blaze, then turn the mouth of the hogshead down; the smoke will purify and sweeten the cask. This process should be repeated every other day, especially during summer--it will afford you good working casks, provided your yeast be good, and your hogsheads are well mashed.
There ought always to be in a distillery more vessels than are necessary for immediate use, that they may alternately be exposed to the frost and air one night at least before brought into service, always bearing in mind that the utmost attention to cleanliness is necessary, in order to afford such yield from the grain, or fruit, as may be requisite to compensate for the expense and labor of extracting spirits--and moreover, that the exercise of the finest genius possessed by man is scarcely capable of taking from small grain, all the spirit it contains:.... good materials will not suffice ... the most marked attention is indispensably necessary to yeast; a mind capable of judging of fermentation in all its stages ... a close adherence to the manner of using the ingredients ... preparing them, and the use of sweet vessels, with great industry and a knowledge to apply it at the proper moment, are all necessary to enable the accomplishment of the desired end.
Note ... In scalding your hogshead I would recommend the use of a shovel full of ashes, which will scald more sharply.
SECTION III.
ARTICLE I.
To Mash Rye in the common mode.
Take four gallons cold water to each hogshead, add one gallon malt, stir it well with your mashing stick, until the malt is thoroughly wet--when your still boils, put in about sixteen gallons boiling water, then put in one and an half bushels of chopped rye, stirring it effectually, until there is no lumps in it, then cover it close until the still boils, then put in each hogshead, three buckets or twelve gallons boiling water, stirring it well at the same time--cover it close--stir it at intervals until you perceive your rye is scalded enough, which you will know by putting in your mashing stick, and lifting thereon some of the scalded rye, you will perceive the heart or seed of the rye, like a grain of timothy seed sticking to the stick, and no appearance of mush, when I presume it will be sufficiently scalded--it must then be stirred until the water is cold enough to cool off, or you may add one bucket or four gallons of cold water to each hogshead, to stop the scalding.
I have known this process succeed well with an attentive distiller.
ART. II.
The best method of distilling Rye.
Take four gallons boiling, and two gallons cold water--put it into a hogshead, then stir in one and a half bushels chopped rye, let it stand five minutes, then add two gallons cold water, and one gallon malt, stir it effectually--let it stand till your still boils, then add sixteen gallons boiling water, stirring it well, or until you break all the lumps--then put into each hogshead, so prepared, one pint coarse salt, and one shovel full of hot coals out of your furnace. (The coals and salt have a tendency to absorb all sourness and bad smell, that may be in the hogshead or grain;) if there be a small quantity of hot ashes in the coals, it is an improvement--stir your hogsheads effectually every fifteen minutes, keeping them close covered until you perceive the grain scalded enough--when you may uncover, if the above sixteen gallons boiling water did not scald it sufficiently, water must be added until scalded enough--as some water will scald quicker than others--it is necessary to mark this attentively, and in mashing two or three times, it may be correctly ascertained what quantity of the kind of water used will scald effectually--after taking off the covers, they must be stirred effectually, every fifteen minutes, till you cool off--for which operation, see "Cooling off." To those who distill all rye, I recommend this method, as I have found it to answer every kind of water, with one or two exceptions.
Distillers will doubtless make experiments of the various modes recommended and use that which may prove most advantageous and convenient.
ART. III.
To Mash two thirds Rye and one third Corn in Summer.
This I have found to be the nicest process belonging to distilling--the small proportion of corn, and the large quantity of scalding water, together with the easy scalding of rye, and the difficulty of scalding corn, makes it no easy matter to exactly hit the scald of both; but as some distillers continue to practice it, (altho' not a good method in my mind, owing to the extreme nice attention necessary in performing it.) In the following receipt I offer the best mode within my knowledge, and which I deem the most beneficial, and in which I shew the process and mode pursued by other distillers.
Take four gallons cold water, put it into a hogshead, then stir half a bushel corn into it, let it stand uncovered thirty minutes, then add sixteen gallons boiling water, stir it well, cover it close for fifteen minutes, then put in your rye and malt and stir it until there be no lumps, then cover it and stir it at intervals until your still boils, then add, eight, twelve, or sixteen gallons boiling water, or such quantity as you find from experience, to answer best--(but with most water, twelve gallons will be found to answer) stirring it well every fifteen minutes until you perceive it is scalded enough, then uncover and stir it effectually until you cool off; keeping in mind always that the more effectually you stir it, the more whiskey will be yielded. This method I have found to answer best, however, I have known it to do very well, by soaking the corn in the first place, with two gallons warm, and two gallons cold water, instead of the four gallons of cold water, mentioned above--others put in the rye, when all the boiling water is in the hogshead, but I never found it to answer a good purpose, nor indeed did I ever find much profit in distilling rye and corn in this proportion.
ART. IV.
To distill one half Rye and one half Corn.
This method of distilling equal quantities of rye and corn, is more in practice, and is much better than to distill unequal proportions, for reason you can scald your corn and rye to a certainty, and the produce is equal if not more, and better whiskey, than all rye. The indian corn is cheaper, and the seed is better than if all rye. I would recommend this, as the smallest quantity of corn to be mixed with rye for distillation, as being most productive, and profitable. The following receipt I have found to answer all waters--yet there may be places where the distiller cannot follow this receipt exactly, owing to hard or soft water, (as it is generally termed) or hard flint or soft floury corn, that will either scald too much or too little--but this the attentive distiller will soon determine by experience.
Have your hogshead perfectly sweet, put into each, three gallons of cold and three of boiling water, or more or less of each, as you find will answer best--then stir in your corn--fill up your boiler, bring it briskly to a boil--then put to each hogshead twelve gallons boiling water, giving each hogshead one hundred stirs, with your mashing stick, then cover close, fill up your boiler and keep a good fire under her, to produce a speedy boil; before you add the last water, put into each hogshead one pint of salt, and a shovel full of hot coals and ashes from under your still, stir the salt and coals well, to mix it with your corn, the coal will remove any bad smell which may be in the hogshead--Should you find on trial, that rye don't scald enough, by putting it in after your last water, you may in that case put in your rye before the last water--but this should be ascertained from several experiments. I have found it to answer best to put in the rye after all the water is in the hogshead, especially if you always bring the still briskly to a boil--then on your corn put twelve or sixteen gallons boiling water, (for the last water,) then if you have not already mashed in your rye, put it in with one gallon good malt to each hogshead, carefully stirring it immediately very briskly, for fear of the water loosing its heat, and until the lumps are all broken, which you will discover by looking at your mashing stick; lumps generally stick to it. When done stirring, cover the hogshead close for half an hour, then stir it to ascertain whether your grain be sufficiently scalded, and when nearly scalded enough, uncover and stir steady until you have it cool enough to stop scalding; when you see it is scalded enough, and by stirring that the scalding is stopped, uncover your hogsheads, and stir them effectually, every fifteen minutes, until they are fit to cool off--remembering that sweet good yeast, clean sweet hogsheads, with this mode of mashing carefully, will produce you a good turn out of your grain. The quantity of corn and rye is generally two stroked half bushels of each, and one gallon malt.
ART. V.
To Mash one third Rye and two thirds Corn.
This I deem the most profitable mashing that a distiller can work, and if he can get completely in the way of working corn and rye in this proportion, he will find it the easiest process of mashing. That corn has as much and as good whiskey as rye or any other grain, cannot be disputed, and the slop or pot ale is much superior to that of any other grain, for feeding or fattening either horned cattle or hogs--one gallon of corn pot ale being esteemed worth three of rye, and cattle will always eat it better--and moreover, corn is always from one to two shillings per bushel cheaper than rye, and in many places much plentier--so that by adopting this method and performing it well, the distiller will find at the close of the year, it has advantages over all other processes and mixtures of rye and corn, yielding more profit, and sustaining the flock better. Hogs fatted on this pot ale, will be found decidedly better than any fatted on the slops of any other kind of mashing.
Mash as follows.
Have sweet hogsheads, good yeast and clean water in your boiler; when the water is sharp, warm, or half boiling, put into every hogshead you mean to mash at the same time, six, eight or as many gallons of the half boiling water, as will completely wet one bushel corn meal--add then one bushel chopped corn, stir it with your mashing stick till your corn is all wet; it is better to put in a less quantity of water first, and so add as you may find necessary, until completely wet (be careful in all mashings, that your mashing stick be clean), this is called soaking the corn. Then fill up your boiler, bring her quickly to a boil, when effectually boiling, put into every hogshead, twelve gallons boiling water, stirring it well after putting in each bucket, until the lumps are quite broken--cover the hogsheads close, after a complete stirring--fill up your boiler, bring her quickly to boil for the last mashing--stir the corn in the hogshead every fifteen minutes, till your last water is boiling--put into each hogshead one pint salt, and a shovel full of red hot coals, stirring it well--then put in each hogshead sixteen gallons of boiling water, stir it well--cover it close for twenty-five minutes--then put into each hogshead one half bushel rye meal, and one gallon good chopped malt, stirring it until the lumps are all broken, then cover it close, stir it every half hour, until you perceive it sufficiently scalded--then uncover it and stir it as often as your other business will permit, until ready to cool off.
In this and every other mashing you must use sweet vessels only and good yeast, or your labor will be in vain; and in all kinds of mashing you cannot stir too much.
ART. VI.
To Mash Corn.
This is an unprofitable and unproductive mode of mashing, but there may be some times when the distiller is out of rye, on account of the mill being stopped, bad roads, bad weather, or some other cause; and to avoid the necessity of feeding raw grain to the hogs or cattle, (presuming every distillery to be depended on for supplying a stock of some kind, and often as a great reliance for a large stock of cattle and hogs,) in cold weather I have found it answer very well, but in warm weather it will not do. Those who may be compelled then from the above causes, or led to it by fancy, may try the following method. To one hogshead, put twelve gallons boiling water, and one and an half bushels corn, stir it well, then when your water boils, add twelve gallons more, (boiling hot,) stir it well, and cover it close, until the still boils the third time, then put in each hogshead, one quart of salt, and sixteen gallons boiling water, stir it effectually, cover it close until you perceive it nearly scalded enough, then put in two, or three gallons cold water, (as you will find to answer best,) and two gallons malt, or more if it can be spared--stir it well, then cover it for half an hour, then uncover and stir it well, until cold enough to cool off.
ART. VII.
To make four gallons from the bushel.
This is a method of mashing that I much approve of, and recommend to all whiskey distillers to try it--it is easy in process, and is very little more trouble than the common method, and may be done in every way of mashing, as well with corn or rye, as also a mixture of each, for eight months in the year; and for the other four is worth the trouble of following. I do not mean to say that the quantity of four gallons can be made at an average, in every distillery, with every sort of grain, and water, or during every vicissitude of weather, and by every distiller, but this far I will venture to say, that a still house that is kept in complete order, with good water, grain well chopped, good malt, hops, and above all good yeast; together with an apt, careful and industrious distiller, cannot fail to produce at an average for eight months in the year, three and three quarter gallons from the bushel at a moderate calculation. I have known it sometimes produce four and an half gallons to the bushel, for two or three days, and sometimes for as many weeks, when perhaps, the third or fourth day, or week, it would scarcely yield three gallons; a change we must account for, in a change of weather, the water or the neglect or ignorance of the distiller. For instance, we know that four gallons of whiskey is in the bushel of rye or corn--certain, that this quantity has been made from the bushel; then why not always? Because, is the answer, there is something wrong, sour yeast or hogsheads, neglect of duty in the distiller, change of grain, or change of weather--then of course it is the duty of the distiller to guard against all these causes as near as he can. The following method, if it does not produce in every distillery the quantity above mentioned, will certainly produce more whiskey from the bushel, than any other mode I have ever known pursued.
Mash your grain in the method that you find will yield you most whiskey--the day before you intend mashing, have a clean hogshead set in a convenient part of the distillery; when your singling still is run off, take the head off and fill her up with clean water, let her stand half an hour, to let the thick part settle to the bottom, which it will do when settled, dip out with a gallon or pail, and fill the clean hogshead half full, let the hogshead stand until it cools a little, so that when you fill it up with cool water, it will be about milk-warm, then yeast it off with the yeast for making 4 gallons to the bushel, then cover it close, and let it work or ferment until the day following, when you are going to cool off; when the cold water is running into your hogshead of mashed stuff, take the one third of this hogshead to every hogshead, (the above being calculated for three hogsheads) to be mashed every day, stirring the hogsheads well before you yeast them off. This process is simple, and I flatter myself will be found worthy of the trouble.
ART. VIII.
To know when Grain is scalded enough.